TheRoot's Swerdlick: GOP Disrespects Obama, Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder has a point when he says he has been treated with disrespect by Republican lawmakers, says columnist David Swerdlick, a contributing editor at TheRoot.com.

"Eric Holder has been, over the years, a little sharper-edged about his comments on race than the president has, and, at this point, clearly he doesn't see any need to hold back," Swerdlick on Monday told Ed Berliner and Diane Dimond, guests hosts of "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"I have been critical in the past with some of the things that Eric Holder has said . . . maybe stepping out of turn where he might otherwise have held his fire. In this particular case, though, he has a point, where he's basically saying he's been treated with disrespect, President Obama has been treated with disrespect.

"It's an open debate about whether it's racial in nature, but I don't think it's an open debate about the fact that they have been disrespected by members of Congress, particularly Republicans."

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Last week, Holder, at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention, spoke of a bitter back-and-forth he'd had with Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas.

"I am pleased to note that the last five years have been defined by significant strides and lasting reforms, even in the face of unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity," Holder said.

"And if you don’t believe that, you look at the way — forget about me — you look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee.... What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?"

Swerdlick, whose online magazine covers African-American culture, says race has become too much of an issue on all sides.

" We've gotten to this point where if Democrats are too sensitive to race, then Republicans are too sensitive to race being brought up at all," he said.